13

UPHOLDING THE TEACHINGS

It is rare for a buddha to have appeared in this world.

Rebirth as a human being is scarce,

as is faith in the teachings, renunciation, and ordination.

Whoever makes dedications for the mind of awakening is pleasing to our guide.

—CHAPTER 25

TO BE BORN in a place where a buddha has appeared is extremely difficult. Among the countless insects, animals, and formless beings, to be a human is quite rare. To truly practice the Dharma is even more rare, and to dedicate the virtue that you’ve gathered for the sake of enlightenment is precious. We are therefore very lucky. We should acknowledge our great merit and feel the preciousness of these temporary conditions.

If we dedicate our virtue while remembering the preciousness of this opportunity to practice, the buddhas are delighted. Remembering the points set forth in this sutra, we will not abandon our vows—we will practice well and maintain our conduct. Although we dedicate at the end of sessions or after having accumulated virtue, a continuous sense of dedication can carry us along the path.

The Buddha said that anyone who upholds the King of Meditation Sutra will develop great dignity. He said that through hearing only four lines of the sutra, one gathers more merit than could be spoken of. The Buddha also said that upholding in our practice even a single line of this sutra gathers more merit than respectfully offering countless gifts to the noble ones. We should therefore uphold as much of what is taught in the sutra as we can and dedicate the generosity of our efforts in four ways.

Bodhisattva mahasattvas also dedicate their generosity in four ways. What are these four?

“May I generate the roots of the virtue of generosity in order to obtain the skillful means through which the blessed ones actualized unsurpassable, perfect, and complete awakening.” This is the first dedication.

“May I generate the roots of the virtue of generosity so that I may always be accompanied by spiritual teachers who will help me to accomplish unsurpassable, perfect, and complete awakening, as I learn, memorize, understand, recite, and maintain their teachings about skillful means under their guidance.” This is the second dedication.

“May I generate the roots of the virtue of generosity so that I may acquire wealth that can bring sustenance to the entire world.” This is the third dedication.

“May I generate the roots of the virtue of generosity so I become accomplished in this very life, and so that this body may become source of the two types of benefit, as I help beings through the Dharma and through material aid.” This is the fourth dedication.

—CHAPTER 35

Great beings make four dedications after completing their practice or after giving generously. First, they dedicate their merit to learning the methods that lead to realization. In this way, they plant the seeds of future learning and turn the momentum of their practice toward acquiring samadhi.

Second, which I find to be particularly important, bodhisattvas make the aspiration to have an authentic teacher who will always hold and protect them, who will teach them to practice correctly, and who will guide them along the path.

Third, they dedicate and aspire to gain the very practical conditions of correct livelihood and material support that make it easier to practice. This means being supported by clean money and clean resources. It is necessary to remember this dedication.

The fourth dedication is made with the aspiration to give rise to generosity—the generosity of material things and the generosity of the Dharma. This dedication shows that the Dharma of Shakyamuni Buddha is not in conflict with living in the world.

Some people criticize Buddhists, saying nonsensical things like, “Oh, they only practice for enlightenment, and they don’t care about others.” This thought is completely wrong. Complete and total enlightenment is impossible to gain without the wish to be an active force of benefit for others. The very movement outward to other beings, the bodhichitta that expansively embraces everyone, is the core of the path. Offering the Dharma that will lead beings into virtue means actually planting the seeds for a noble society.

Whichever learned person offers the Dharma

is always abiding by the Dharma of great beings.

His country, too, will become pure and virtuous

and conditions conducive to awakening will flourish.

—CHAPTER 29

Imagine you are a good practitioner. You have pure motivation, you have given rise to bodhichitta and therefore see all beings as equal, and you really want to offer the truth to all beings. If you want to be able to bring Dharma to all beings, you have to sit with Dharma yourself. Without abiding in Dharma, you cannot transmit Dharma. When you truly begin to offer Dharma from the place of Dharma, everything is transformed into purity. The person receiving your offering, yourself, all perceptions—everything becomes increasingly purified.

But please remember that to offer the Dharma truly, you must pay homage to your teachers and reduce your pride. In that way you lay the groundwork to begin to benefit others through teaching the Dharma.

Extending words of respect to their teachers

and eliminating pride from the start—

this is how the victorious lords of Dharma teach.

Their minds are only stirred by virtue;

they have understood and realized wisdom.

They always abandon ignorant tendencies

and teach the factors of supreme awakening.

—CHAPTER 14

Through engaging in such conduct, you will begin to develop a lot of merit. For example, some teachers tell me that they improve more through teaching others than by practicing alone. I believe this can be the case, because while teaching they need a strong motivation to offer the Dharma purely. When one offers this Dharma purely, powerful qualities arise.

Youthful Moon, you should know that bodhisattva mahasattvas who retain, understand, uphold, read, recite, transmit, chant, and extensively teach this samadhi to others obtain four beneficial qualities. What are these four? Their merit cannot be outshone, they are unassailable by opponents, their wisdom is immeasurable, and their confidence is unlimited.

—CHAPTER 18

Of course, there are also fake teachers. One may try to offer the Dharma to others without personally actually abiding in the Dharma of the Buddha. The Buddha prophesied the spreading of this type of hypocrisy in our current age.

In the name of my teachings, they will ordain

for the sake of sustaining their livelihoods.

Overpowered by gain and honor,

they will disparage one another.

—CHAPTER 18

But now I speak of a good person brimming with bodhichitta, someone who loves the Dharma and is compassionate. If you are such a person, decent and endowed with the power to give the Dharma, you possess a very precious gift. A person who offers the Dharma increases their own enlightened qualities. There is genuine benefit for the one who offers and the one who receives. Therefore, offer this profound Dharma, which leads to the end of suffering.

Bodhisattva mahasattvas who wish to swiftly achieve unsurpassable, perfect, and complete awakening and wish to liberate all beings from the ocean of samsara must listen to this King of Samadhi That Fully Reveals the Equal Nature of All Things, which is praised by all the buddhas and is the mother of all tathagatas. They must retain it, uphold it, understand it, read it, recite it, transmit it, chant it, and cultivate it through meditation free from afflictive emotions.

—CHAPTER 9

Many of us know the old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” It is better to empower someone to thrive through knowledge than to let them scrounge for sustenance day by day. Likewise, if you give money and material things, you only help people for a short period of time, which is nonetheless a very good thing to do. But if, with pure motivation, you give someone the knowledge of Dharma, that knowledge will continue with the person until their enlightenment. When you give the Dharma, you benefit countless beings. Giving the knowledge that leads to enlightenment is greater than anything else you might give. When you give the words of the Buddha, you give the roots of all that is wholesome.

The Buddha’s words always dispel afflictive emotions.

They give rise to delight, without delight in attachment;

they give rise to loving-kindness without aversion;

they give rise to wisdom without ignorance.

The Buddha’s words clear away all defilements.

—CHAPTER 14

When we teach the King of Meditation, we give people the means to be free from the sickness of samsara, but we also give them the ability to be free from myriad other sicknesses of the world. Nowadays, scientists are conducting extensive research into the benefits of meditation on the cellular level, on our neurological systems, and on our hormonal systems. More than two thousand years ago, the Buddha described meditation as a way to alleviate all sickness—relative and ultimate. The Buddha is the doctor of beings, his teaching is the medicine, and the noble ones who uphold his teachings are like the nurses and caretakers who nurture you from sickness into health. The refuge offered by these three jewels is simply true and undeceiving.

We live within an ocean of sentient beings—moving, talking, sitting, sleeping, drinking coffee, driving cars, loving, and crying. We must hold this samadhi within the vast expanse of moving mind. If we persistently train in refining our understanding of reality, cultivating love and compassion, making offerings, engaging in proper conduct, and in meditation, and if we yearn for the highest wisdom, we will find no difficulty in seeing the Buddha. If we uphold this teaching with humbleness, dignity, and correct view, we will shine like Youthful Moon.

Dedication

This is the easiest way to dedicate:

May the temple of sublime Dharma spread and flourish!

May infinite sentient beings be happy and well!

May samsara and the three lower realms be emptied and extinguished!

May the hordes of maras be pacified and tamed!

May I fulfill the aspirations of all bodhisattvas residing on the bhumis!

The sky can fall with its moon and stars,

the ground can crumble with its mountains and towns,

and outer space can transform its appearance,

but you never speak false words.

—CHAPTER 13